The state is known as the birthplace of the automotive industry. However, it also has a large tourist industry. Destinations like Traverse City, Mackinac Island, and the entire Upper Peninsula draw vacationers, hunters, and nature lovers from all over the U.S and Canada. Michigan has the longest coastline of any state except Alaska and more recreational boats than any other state.

Once a thriving lumber capital and supplier of iron and copper minerals, Michigan's declining natural resources gave way at the turn of the twentieth century. The birth of the automotive industry with Henry Ford's first plant in the Highland Park suburb of Detroit, marked the beginning of a new era in personal transportation that permanently changed the socio-economic climate of America. Many automotive manufacturing plants remain, however, Detroit lost its grandeur after World War II, as automotive companies abandoned huge industrial parks in the area for the cheaper labor found in Southern U.S. and offshore plants.

1835 First Constitutional Convention. Stevens T. Mason inaugurated as the first Governor. Stevens T. Mason started a minor conflict with Ohio over the city of Toledo, (now Toledo, Ohio) known as the Toledo War the same year: Ohio was awarded Toledo but Michigan was given a majority of Michigan's upper peninsula.

Admitted as a free state into the union in 1837 (the 26th state), it was admitted with the slave state of Arkansas

Referendum and Voter Initiative: Michigan's constitution provides for voter initiative and referendum (Article II, § 9 [[1] ), defined as "the power to propose laws and to enact and reject laws, called the initiative, and the power to approve or reject laws enacted by the legislature, called the referendum. The power of initiative extends only to laws which the legislature may enact under this constitution."

The Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten and its 277 miles long from north to south and 195 miles from east to west. The Upper Peninsula (usually called simply "The U.P.") is as big as Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined, but has less than 320,000 inhabitants, who are known as "Yoopers" and whose speech has been heavily influenced by the large number of Scandinavian and Canadian immigrants who settled the area during the mining boom of the late 1800's.

These two sections are connected only by the Mackinac Bridge -- the third longest suspension bridge in the world. The two peninsulas are surrounded by an extensive Great Lakes shoreline. Other than Alaska, Michigan has the longest shoreline of any state -- 2,242 miles (and another 879 miles if islands are included). This equals the length of the Atlantic Coast, from Maine to Florida. The Great Lakes which touch the two peninsulas of Michigan are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. No point in Michigan is more than 6 miles from an inland lake or more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes, and the state has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of rivers and streams.

Motto: "Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice" which is Latin for "If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look about You.", a paraphrase of a statement made by British architect Sir Christopher Wren about his influence on London.